Japanese gamers, at the very least, will soon be able to enjoy an online Phantasy Star Zero on their DS’s. The Japanese gaming mags are touting this new title as a “brand-new game that takes the series back to its online roots and offers full-on Wi-Fi multiplayer to a degree that’s never been attempted before with DS RPGs,” according to some translation work over at 1up.
The general premise of PS0 is unchanged: choosing from a variety of character types, you charge through action-RPG missions and fight bosses, either by yourself in the single-player story mode or with friends on multiplayer. The game’s in full 3D and looks beautiful, but the multiplayer mode is undoubtedly going to attract the most attention with PS0 — it allows up to four players to form a party and complete Hunter missions, either via local wireless or full-on Wi-Fi connection. Communication will be handled by word balloons, with you drawing messages on the bottom screen PictoChat-style. You’ll be able to save these monochrome word balloons for instant retrieval during battle, suggesting that players will see some serious works of art akin to the loony emoticons seen in the Phantasy Star Online games.
Phantasy Star Zero is scheduled to launch in Japan this winter. No word yet on US or European release dates.